A New Day
by wizardinpyjamas
Summary: Set during 'Torchwood Miracle Day' during episode 3. Jack gets off the phone from Gwen and ends up telling Brad everything about Ianto.


**AN: Hello, so this is my first ever fan fiction. I really hope you like it. It's a one shot as I can't see this going any further, and I wanted to keep it short and simple, being my first one. Reviews would be much appreciated and constructive criticism is more than welcome.**

**The stuff in italics are either Jack's thoughts or the video. It'll make sense (hopefully) when you read it.**

* * *

A New Day

"Gwen. I had to call. I thought of a thing."

"Are you drunk?" Asked Gwen.

Jack laughed at himself. "A little. You?"

"Some of us have to work." Silence. "Your turn to talk"

Jack sighed, "I know. I was thinking, about how you're immortal, and I'm dying. And, what I wanted to say was, we're good aren't we? You and me? Good team?" Jack could feel the tears burning behind his eyes. " I've missed you."

Jack could hear the pain in Gwen's voice , "I was thinking, uh, if this had happened a bit sooner-"

"I know" he acknowledged.

"He'd still be here, Ianto"

Jack closed his eyes. "Dead friends"

"I'm sorry"

"I wish he was here now." He finally admitted to himself. "Not much of a team, is it? But we've still got each other. You and me. Just like the old days. We don't need anyone, do we? We don't need Rex. Right Gwen?" Nothing. " Gwen?"

And then he heard Gwen talk from the other end of the phone, but not to him. "Anwen, hello little sweetheart. Hello darling" Of course. Anwen. Gwen had a family. She needed them. Jack, once again, was all alone. He hung up the phone and let the tears fall freely, not bothering to try and stop them.

He heard movement from behind him, and he knew Brad was awake, but he ignored him. How had everything gone so wrong? First Owen, then Tosh. And then, all of a sudden, Ianto was gone. Just like that._ His _Ianto. And Jack couldn't help but feel responsible for all those deaths.

Jack jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly. He turned slightly to see Brad looking at him, concerned, with pity in his eyes. He had been listening. Brad shifted closer slightly, not moving his hand. Jack didn't look at him once, his eyes filled with tears, looking away, determined not to break.

"What was his name?" Jack was surprised to hear Brad speak. He wasn't expecting that. He didn't know what he was expecting to be honest. "The person you lost, what was his name?"

Jack looked at him, slightly confused, and said, "What do you care?"

"I know what it feels like to lose someone you love."

Jack flinched at that last word. _Love. _It still pained him to admit that he had loved Ianto. Hell, he _still _loved Ianto. And he had never told him. That was the worst part.

"And besides," Brad continued, "I work at a bar; I know a broken man when I see one."

Jack looked away, drowned in his own sorrow. _For God's sake,_ he told himself,_ I thought you were over this. _"Ianto." Jack's voice was horse and he had said his name in barely a whisper. He gulped and said, "His, his name was Ianto."

"That's an unusual name" Brad said. Jack looked at him sternly. "I like it."

Jack let out the breath he had unknowingly been holding in. "It's Welsh. _He_ was Welsh." Jack sighed. "He was beautiful" He said the last three words in a whisper.

"Tell me about him" Brad said softly.

"What am I supposed to say?" Jack's tone was bitter with rage now. "He was murdered, he died in my arms, he told me that he loved me and I said 'Don't'." Jack was crying now. "Of course I loved him but he never knew. He never knew and it was all, it was all my fault." Brad pulled him into a hug and Jack let him, knowing that it was better than resisting.

After Jack had calmed down a bit, Brad went to the bathroom and brought him back a glass of water. "Here, this'll help." He told Jack.

"Thanks" Jack murmured, slightly embarrassed. He took a sip and let out a sigh. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Brad jumped when Jack next spoke. "He was 26 when he died."

"So young." Brad's voice sounded sincerely heartfelt. "How long…?"

"About a year and a half, maybe 2 years. I'm not quite sure."

"Wow. I'm so sorry." Brad put his hand on Jack's shoulder and Jack believed he truly meant it. Jack took another sip from his water. "Am I.. Am I your first since he..?"

"Sorry, but no." Jack laughed.

"Didn't think so. Do you want to talk about it? Talk about _him?"_

Jack hesitated. _Maybe it would do me some good. _But he didn't know where to start. _The beginning would be good. _Jack smiled at himself. _That was so Ianto._

"I was his boss." He began. "It started off as nothing more than a bit of innocent flirting. Okay, maybe not so innocent on my behalf. He used to joke it was harassment, but I would say 'Not if you enjoy it'" Jack was surpised at how easy it was to talk about Ianto to a complete stranger. And not only that, but he had stopped crying. Instead, he was smiling at the memories. _The good times. _Of course, that was before he knew about Lisa. "Then, his girlfriend died. It destroyed him. It took months before he was okay again. And that's when something finally happened between us."

"Wow, you guys were screwed up." Brad said. "I'm sorry, I just meant, his girlfriend, then him. Just so much death, and now no one can die. Sorry, carry on"

"Well, I, it just got all a bit confusing in the middle" said Jack. _Actually, I just can't tell you that we brought a college back to life and then I died and came back to life._ "Something happened. I went away for a while. I went travelling with a friend. Someone I had been waiting for longer than you would believe. But when I returned, I knew it was _him_ I was returning to." Jack could feel the tears falling, but unlike the others, they weren't tears of sadness or of guilt, but tears of happiness thinking back of their time together. "The night I got back I asked him out on a date. Our first _real_ date. Before we left he made us coffee. Always fussing about coffee. Of course, it was amazing and I never refused a cup. Not once. Some nights, he would even make sure we had one last cup before bed. Of course, that would only happen on the nights we didn't do much sleeping." Jack laughed at himself again. _That was most nights._ "I didn't drink coffee for months after he died. It reminded me too much of him. That and whenever I saw someone in a suit."

Brad looked at him questioningly.

"He looked great in a suit." Jack answered. "And, although he didn't like to admit it, he took great pride in that. He always took the time and effort to wear a well-tailored suit, no matter where we were. Of course, I never complained; he had a _great_ ass. And with his devilishly handsome looks, silky smooth accent and witty sense of humour, now that I look back on things, it's no wonder I fell in love with him."

"Do you have any pictures?" Brad asked.

"Why?"

"Well, you seem like a great guy and you are very handsome. You also don't seem like the guy who would settle down."

"Oh, and you can just tell, can you?"

"I work in a bar" Brad pointed out. "Anyway, I just wanted to see what this guy looked like. This Ianto. He sounds like a great guy."

"He was. I was so lucky to have him. I didn't deserve him."

"I'm sure that's not true. Now, am I gonna get to see any pictures of him, or what?"

_Pictures._ They were all gone. He had a few hard copied but they went up in smoke with the hub. But- _of course! My vortex manipulator! _Jack had saved a few of his favourite photographs of Ianto onto his vortex manipulator. _But, should I show him? Oh, what the hell, he's probably drunk too much to even remember much of tonight, anyway._ He lifted his wrist, tapped a few buttons and found the one he wanted. He had a few pictures, but they were to be looked at later, in private.

Jack selected the picture and Ianto's face appeared before him and Brad in a hologram. This picture of Ianto had been taken from the Hub's CCTV. Ianto never knew Jack had it. It was from the time Gwen walked in on them in the hot house. Ianto had been making coffe and with his shirt undone a little, and a small, nervous smile on his face, Jack thought he'd never looked better. All the pictures on his vortex manipulator meant a great deal to him; he had a picture of the time they kissed after Abbadon – all the emotion poured into the kiss meant more to Jack than he, himself realised. There was also a picture of them dancing at Gwen's wedding – a photograph that Tosh took the liberty of taking. A picture that Gwen had taken of the two of them sleeping on the couch in the hub after a particularly long case. Of course, there were pictures of the rest of the team on there too. Jack had put them there in case anything happened to the hub, so he would always carry what was dear to him.

"Wow." Brad said, smiling nervously. "I can see why you liked him." Jack nodded. "Can I see another?"

"Ah, sure. Hang, give me one sec." Jack had an idea, and it excited him. He hadn't seen this since he put it on his vortex manipulator. "Aha! Found it."

"What is it?" asked Brad.

"A video. I have a few on here, not many, but I kept this one."

"What is that thing?"

"This?" Jack held up his wrist. _How do I explain it?_ "Just an advanced piece of technology. Anyway, wanna watch?"

"Sure." Brad was slightly nervous now. So was Jack. He took in a deep breath and hit the play button.

The hologram of the video whirred into life before their eyes.

_"Jack, stop it. I'm trying to make coffee." Came Ianto's voice._ Jack gasped at the sound, realising how much he had actually missed those beautiful Welsh vowels.

_Jacks was standing behind Ianto with his arms around his waist. They were in the kitchenette of the hub. Jack was silently kissing Ianto's neck while he fought against him trying to make coffee for the team. "Jack, stop, do you want your coffee or not?"_

_"I want you." They could hear Tosh's giggles from Jack's last comment. Ianto's ears went slightly pink. He turned in Jack's arms and gave him a small, chaste kiss._

_"There, now let me make coffee."_

_"Fine, but this isn't over."_

_Ianto rolled his eyes._

_As soon as he had given everyone their coffees, Jack's hands returned around his waist._

_"You're never going to stop are you?"_

_"What can I say, you're irresistible." Jack replied._

_They heard a groan and turned to see Owen walking towards the autopsy bay muttering something about Jack being a 'horny bugger.' Jack laughed. Ianto blushed. _

_"Well I think it's sweet." Tosh chipped in. Ianto rolled his eyes._

_"Jack, I have work to do." Ianto said, turning to face Jack once again._

_"So? I'm the boss."_

_"Jaaack. What can I do to make you let go of me? We'll have time for this later." At this point Jack's hands had moved to cup Ianto's arse._

_"Oooh. I dunno, how about.."_

_Ianto kissed him quickly on the lips and turned to walk away._

_"Nope, I want a real kiss." Said Jack._

_"But everyone's watching."_

_"Are you shy?"_

_Ianto looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Fine, one kiss, and then you can let me work."_

_"One kiss."_

_Ianto moved in so that his lips reached Jack's, his tongue instantly brushing Jack's teeth. Jack let him explore his mouth for a moment before Ianto pulled away, leaving Jack wanting more. _

_"Tease" said Jack._

_Ianto winked at him. "Like I said, there'll be more time for that later."_

_Jack just laughed and walked away, leaving Ianto to get back to his work._

And then the hologram faded, leaving Jack and Brad staring into space. Jack wasn't surprised to find that he had started crying again, but he was surprised to see tears forming in Brad's eyes.

"You looked so happy" he told Jack.

"I was."

They sat in silence for a while, and before long, Brad had fallen back to sleep.

Jack was surprised to find that he didn't regret talking to Brad. It had felt good, to talk to someone. He lay down beside Brad and put all of his pictures on a slide show and before long, he too, had fallen asleep.

When Jack woke up the next morning, he didn't remember a lot from the night before, but he felt like a huge weight had been lifted. He knew it would take him a while to get over Ianto and move on. There was no doubt about it. But gone was the guilt. Ianto would've wanted Jack to be happy and he would never have blamed Jack for his death.

Jack got up and started to get dressed, getting ready for a new day. A day without guilt.


End file.
